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Humans have adopted clothes for protection. They are adaptable to circumstances. We can layer them to fit the environment or weather. Society has created all sorts of ‘rules’ for when and where to wear certain items of clothing. Yet the layering process remains flexible. All this can be said for citations as well. They exist for ...Read More

Yes. Seriously. From Boston University to Brigham Young, and across the waters to the UK’s Open University, Strathclyde, and Dundee—as well as many lesser-known institutions in between. A century-old wall is crumbling between academia and family history. Should we be concerned? Or should we embrace the possibilities?
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Sources give us information, from which we identify evidence. All undergo the evaluation process to produce proof. Users of Evidence Explained well know this mantra. The Evidence Analysis Process Map lays it out in a tidy graphic on EE’s flyleaf. Figure 1, in this lesson, gives the newly expanded version. But how does this mantra fit into our daily work?
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Historians are expected to interpret what they find. That’s part of the job description. It’s also one of the most misunderstood aspects of the job. Where do we draw the line between “interpretation” and “speculation”? What relation does either have to the popular buzzword “hypothesis”? At what eventual point does interpretation qualify as “proof”?Read More

History still waits to be discovered. In courthouses and warehouses, town halls and rectories, dusty attics and ancient trunks, old records survive in every form imaginable.

Technology delivers other treasures. Websites and DVDs offer documents and relics in many digital formats. Audio files, podcasts, and blogs stream other insights into history. Libraries house fiche and film, reprints and revisions, translations and transcripts, alongside digital access to books and journals published previously in print.

History is everywhere. But history is not just a slew of records or a set of “facts”—and all sources are not created equal.

Historical records offer evidence, but their assertions may or may not be true. To judge what likely happened, we must understand those records. To analyze that evidence and decide what to believe, we also need certain facts about those records themselves.

Students, scholars, and curious sleuths all face the same questions:

What details must we capture for each type of source, in order to understand it and properly interpret its evidence?

How do we evaluate a record’s credibility—especially when its information conflicts with assertions made in other sources?

How do we identify each source—not just so it can be found again, but so we and others can judge its reliability?

Evidence Explained guides us through a maze of sources not covered by other citation manuals—all kinds of original records, accessed through various media.

More than a thousand examples for U.S. and international documents demonstrate how to handle the quirks that stump us when we use those materials. Evidence Explained is the go-to guide for everyone who explores the past.

Evidence Explained is built on one core principle: We cannot judge the reliability of any information unless we know

exactly where the information came from; and

the strengths and weaknesses of that source.

Beyond this, Evidence Explained differs significantly from other citation guides in several ways.

Evidence Explained vs. Traditional Citation Guides

Traditional Guides

Evidence Explained

Primary focus on published materials; limited treatment of academic papers

Primary focus on original records not treated in traditional guides:

9 chapters (532 pp.) cover local, state, and federal government records, business & institutional records, ecclesiastical records, vital records, materials in private possession, and other archival resources and artifacts in the U.S. and other western nations

3 chapters (282 pp.) cover published materials more extensively than the traditional guides

(The 2 introductory chapters teach the fundamentals of citation and analysis.)

Emphasis on stylistic matters

Dual purpose; EE provides not only citation styles but instruction in the use and analysis of each type of historical source material

Each in bibliographic, full reference note, and short reference note formats

(In-text formats are not suitable for typically complex citations to original historical documents and digital materials.)

Limited treatment of digital materials

Extensive treatment of digital materials—including

original records of all types reproduced online and in other media

print publications reproduced or archived online or in other media

new publications created online or in other digital media

Very limited coverage of legal works and published government documents

Extensive discussions and models of legal publications and published government documents

Emphasis on output—i.e., the minimum details needed at publication to enable readers to relocate a source.

Emphasis on input—i.e., the details researchers need to capture while using a record, in order to understand (a) the nature of the source and (b) the strengths and weaknesses of the information that source provides.